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SAVY 2019: Session 5, Day 3 – Makings of America (Rising 3rd/4th)
Jul. 17, 2019—Dear SAVY Parents, Today was the most challenging content so far, and I think it can be argued that it is no coincidence that it was the most rewarding and joyous day so far as well! We may talk tomorrow about cause and effect in relation to our productive struggle. In a learning environment, does...
SAVY 2019: Session 5, Day 3 – Dabbling with DNA (Rising 3rd/4th)
Jul. 17, 2019—It was another high-energy day in Dabbling with DNA. We tackled the topic of evolution by first revisiting the crazy creatures from the previous day. We discussed the various traits that the creatures have (antenna length, ear size, body color, etc…) and brainstormed on how each form of the trait could be adaptive. Next up...
SAVY 2019: Session 5, Day 3 – Witty Wordplay (Rising 1st/2nd)
Jul. 17, 2019—As the writer’s techniques keep inspiring us, the more the writing flows! We started with another Word Ladder today and a creativity activity to spark flexible brainstorming called: Unusual uses for… In this activity we take an everyday item and brainstorm other usual uses for it. On Monday our item was a spoon, Tuesday was...
SAVY 2019: Session 5, Day 3 – Wind and Wings (Rising 1st/2nd)
Jul. 17, 2019—The week is flying by! To start our day, the students listed all the ways that they thought birds used their feathers. They came up with so many good ideas like flying, diving, keeping warm, swimming, camouflage, and getting water for their baby birds. We compared their ideas to a list from the Arizona State...
Career Connections at SAVY 2019: Session 2, Day 2 – Strength and Structure of Engineering Materials (Rising 7th)
Jul. 16, 2019—Today was our day of sudden catastrophic failures! We covered two types of sudden catastrophic failures. The first failure type we covered was buckling. Buckling strength is affected by many things, not just the material selected. To explore buckling strength, we got into groups and made beams with different heights, cross sectional shapes, and materials. ...
SAVY 2019: Session 5, Day 2 – Math and Music (Rising 5th/6th)
Jul. 16, 2019—We began Math and Music today by splitting up into two teams and laying the groundwork for our John Cage trial later in the week. I was impressed with how well the students worked to come up with their respective definitions of music! Of course the two sides will be presenting different definitions as they...
SAVY 2019: Session 5, Day 2 – Dynamic Coasts (Rising 5th/6th)
Jul. 16, 2019—Today, we dove deeper into the processes that influence coasts and drive coastal change…literally and figuratively! We learned about isostasy and how the lithosphere (crust and upper mantle) floats on the asthenosphere (below the lithosphere; upper mantle) and responds to changes in loading and unloading. We linked this idea to the ideas of subsidence and...
SAVY 2019: Session 5, Day 2 – Solving for the Unknown (Rising 3rd/4th)
Jul. 16, 2019—Hello SAVY parents! I’m very excited for another successful day here at summer SAVY. The students were still curious about the number trick that was performed during yesterday’s session. We continued that lesson as they came in asking many questions about how the trick worked. We were able to discuss as a group what information...
SAVY 2019: Session 5, Day 2 – Makings of America (Rising 3rd/4th)
Jul. 16, 2019—Hello SAVY Parents, Thank you so much for sending your child to engage in this tremendously thought-provoking student research and to be a part of these amazing discussions. Today, as our studies moved through understanding the context of the issues and attitudes of colonial America, we were driven to understand more about the “sacrifices of war”...
SAVY 2019: Session 5, Day 2 – Dabbling with DNA (Rising 3rd/4th)
Jul. 16, 2019—After starting the day with a GYKY activity of four corners we reviewed what we had learned yesterday about cells and DNA. It was then time for Mendelian genetics. We examined pea plants and brainstormed on the various traits that pea plants exhibit and considered the traits that Mendel studied. We learned about genotype and...